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The accursed "Where should you start the Trails series?" video (spoiler-free [mostly])
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- čas přidán 14. 08. 2024
- I'm not a KisekiTuber I swear.
All footage is from the beginning of Trails in the Sky 1 to keep the video as spoiler-free as possible.
All music also from Trails in the Sky 1.
Intro: 0:00
Getting into Trails in the Sky: 1:58
More arguments: 3:58
Me whining about other takes on this topic: 6:06
Ups and downs: 8:56
Other tips: 11:24
Outro: 14:46
Top 10 Countdowns!: • Countdowns
Random News of Gaming (RNG): • RNG
Other commentary!: • Commentary/opinion
Smash Ultimate clips (shorts): • Smash Ultimate Shorts
Smash Ultimate supercuts: • Smash Ultimate Garbage
Twatter: / chao_nights
Discord: / discord
#trailsinthesky #trailsthroughdaybreak #trailsofcoldsteel #trailsfromzero
Sky FC is the only correct answer.
The is the only correct opinion on the only correct answer
FC Evolution with the English patch***
Bro saying the voice acting mod gets in the way is the craziest thing Ive ever heard. Its a literal straight up upgrade, it gets you more invested in the emotional core of the stories. You can actually hear the tone of the dialogue, the highs, the lows, the full range of the emotional spectrum that Sky will explore, and you can still listen to the original music and feel the catharsis and epicness of the OST just fine.
There is only one group of people I wouldn't recommend to play with the voice acting mod: Normies, or people who dont play jrpgs or watch anime in general, and its not because of the quality of the voice acting. Simply put if you don't watch any anime or at least have played with a japanese dub in a couple of games then a foreign language can get in the way because your brain isn't used to the sounds and has to get used to it, only that could theoretically dampen the experience. But I very much doubt there's a single person that found this youtube video with this issue.
Nah, not for me. I get more into the emotional core of the series just by reading, and having it play out in my imagination. When the games go full 3D, it's a bit more weird not to have it, but it doesn't bother me either.
I probably should have made it clear that this point is highly subjective in the video, but I said that it should be experienced in its original state without voice acting, then if you return for a second playthrough, to add the VA mod. I don't think that's a bad suggestion, but people can do what they want at their own discretion.
Thanks for the comment 👍
honestly, the voice mod can be annoying if you're playing and trying to make other people discover. You can't voice over the game with the mod, and sometimes, adding sometimes bits and joke in a dialogue help people enjoy the game, especially the first game that can be a bit slow (or just help people get in the game and understand what's going on for non-english people)
I have played the sky games 3 times, last one with the voice mod and it made me realize, that the work XSEED performed with this script is beyond a translation a almost a re-write. Most of what makes the characters endearing, were bits that XSEED added to the script. And that, was in itself a let down, since Falcom's own voice script was pretty bland in comparison.
Now, the work performed by the VAs of Estelle, Cassius and Tita is something else, top tier work.
@@coyote271280 That's interesting. I don't know the extent the script was changed, but I'm not fond of localizers rewriting the game like that. It would be interesting to replay those games with a more literal translation.
For the last paragraph, there's also another type of person who can't enjoy a dub with a different language when the subtitles are the main medium. That's me :D. I play plenty of JRPGs, watch anime, hell I am half-japanese and can understand it just fine. But what happens is that the words they say and the words written sometimes don't line up and so I have to parse two sets of sentences in place of one. It gets very annoying. (And sure I can just play in Japanese text too (wait why haven't I?) but I prefer English (actually, imma try Zero)).
+ doing the voices myself is more fun because I get to feel what that character is feeling. I struggle with empathy for characters, so being able to voice act while playing helps draw it out.
well, you convinced me. Installing the first one right now
Nice. Hope you enjoy the ride 👍
Great video! I get why people say you can start with Daybreak, I disagree with it but I do understand that the main plot can be followed without previous knowledge. What really grinds my gears though is people saying that Daybreak is a better starting point than Cold Steel 1 which could not be further from the truth and I'm glad you touch on some of those points.
I've heard a lot of terrible takes on this topic but saying Daybreak is a better entry point to Cold Steel is a new one. A very stupid one lol.
Thanks for the comment 👍
So back in like 2016 or 2017 i started off with cold steel 1 and for the life of me could not progress early on. That shit felt so slow and it seem liked i was doing tedious stuff just to move on with the story so i canned it extremely early on. As of 2 weeks ago i decided to make the commitment to dwell in the trails series for some reasons. One due to the much praise everyone gives it, two the fact that i have a steam deck, and finally that now all the games are available for steam so no excuse at this point. This time though starting off with sky series and man i am in love with it so far. I will say i personally disagree with your opinion on not using voice mods though i understand your reason, in terms of making my own experience and imagination with voices(teenage me would have been fine with it but nowadays i feel like i get bored and distracted very easily). I was playing with no voices during the prologue but decided to add the mod afterwards and for me it has really enriched my experience alot. Being able to hear all the expressions and stuff really gives me a better feel and connection with these characters.
Still wanted to say thanks for the vid as it was one of a couple that i saw that convinced me to suck it up and start with the sky trilogy. Hopefully once sky and crossbell arcs are done for me i will be able to deal with cold steel 1 again. I remember some of my buddies saying it was like the worst entry to them and i think i found that out extremely early on lol. Also the animated video for sky works fine on my steam deck, i think it was just installing proton tricks, and turning on the proton compatibility it was a very simple fix.
Adding the voice mod makes me at least more attentive to what they character are saying and for a newbie in trails it teaches the player that normal NPC conversation is very important or insightful enough that those NPC dialogue are voice acted.
It is also good in a way since unlike Cold steel where it makes you the player think that some scenes are actually better if those scenes have voice lines since the 3d games only cherry pick voice acted lines.
While Cold Steel 1 is one of the better starting points for new players, I think I would have felt the same way if I didn't know the nature of this series beforehand. It's my least favorite game in the series for various reasons, one being what you said: it's slow and tedious.
It's cool you got back into it with Trails in the Sky. Regarding the voices, if that works better for you, then go for it. I definitely get less out of voice acting in general than most people, so that's why I recommend not using it if there are others out there like me.
I think once you're caught up, you'll enjoy Cold Steel 1 a lot more. I'm glad my video helped you enjoy the series, and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts once you've experienced more. Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations Just wanted to say I finally finished with FC and man what a fucking story rich game. I immediately went into SC trying to get more 😂
I was a big fan of everything from storytelling to characters to the music. Battle system is pretty dope and relaxing. Also Scherazard is by far my favorite character lol.
Yeah I also didn't find it slow as well or maybe I was just interested in even the "slow parts" i think it's just that good.
Yeah I'm definitely understanding the hype for these trails games
@@DXcellence718Returns Nice. That FC ending got to you like it did for me? I'm less of a fan of the side plots in that game, but the ending made it all worth it.
@@LowestExpectations Yup lol the ending was an instant SC start. Hearing lot's of praise with SC and the third so im pretty excited to start my journey on those games. IM Hoping zero and azure will be on sale soon since i dont own those, would like to get a good deal picking them up
Wow, I got this one suggested to me out of nowhere (don't remember watchig your channel or something related to the Trails series). They must have done something to the YT recommendation system.
Anyway I had this game in my backlog for years or so. Do you think it's a good starting point for those who are inexperienced in JRPG genre?
That's an interesting question I haven't really thought about before. If you're talking about Trails in the Sky, the one thing that may hold it back from being good for JRPG newcomers is that it can be quite a bit more difficult than other games in the genre that are more newcomer-friendly like Golden Sun or Pokémon. Some battles can be fairly tough, and there's a lot of missable things, but if you like being challenged, then it might not be an issue for you after all.
Trails of Cold Steel is probably more accessible for newcomers from a gameplay perspective, but like I mention in the video, that means starting this series somewhat in the middle.
Either way, if you do decide to get into it, feel free to ask any more questions you may have, and thanks for checking out the video 👍
@@LowestExpectationshey @VeterinarXP, I’ve played through the entire series several times and as much as I enjoy the series as a whole, I think it’s very much JRPG comfort food. Like if you enjoy JRPGs, this will be such a relaxing game, but if this is your very first one, Sky FC has a steep learning curve with its battle system and there is a lot of reading. I definitely recommend it as your second JRPG and to start with a more modern one like Persona 5. Hope this helps and feel free to message me about the series
@@steveshaw9657 Yeah at this point, the series is definitely JRPG comfort food. That's a good way to describe it. I've seen other people say the same thing about the Dragon Quest series.
I am mostly a console gamer that started with Sky FC just recently. I'm still doing the prologue, but I'm liking what I'm playing so far. Playing in my shitty laptop and there was part of me that really wanted to wait for what I consider inevitable - an announcement the Sky Trilogy is coming to console, but I bit the bullet. There's a bit of uneasiness that's going away because I'm not used to playing games on keyboard and mouse, but I'm making it work with Sky FC. Some tips for noobs like me: hold A to run, alt is used for turbo mode, 0 can be used to close menus, and the game can be difficult because there are some fights where you'll only have two characters to fight 6 monsters, but you can retry any battle if your party gets KO'd, you can run from all battles as long as it isn't a boss, and the two boss battles I've done were not harder than some encounters where enemies attack you from behind and you are outnumbered like 5 to 2. Also, no random battles!
I plan to play the series in release order and on the following platforms:
Sky FC, Sky SC and Sky the Third on PC.
Zero and Azure on Switch
Cold Steel - Daybreak on PS5.
Yeah the Sky trilogy works very well on keyboard, and a lot of the controls that I used in emulators in the past carried over nicely. Enjoy your time with Sky and thanks for the comment 👍
if you have the steam version, just plug a PS4 or xbox controller using the charging cable into your laptop, steam will pick it up automatically and you can play the game with it.
I actually started from Zero, but instead of going to Azure afterwards, I started from the very beginning at FC. Now I am halfway through CS1
Good choice 👍 Enjoy the ride
@@LowestExpectations Thank you! Its been a long journey so far, but a very good one! This is the most fun I've had with jrpgs since I played XC 1-3.
Trails in the sky is the best option to start this series (that, or go overboard and start with Legend of Heroes 1 or Dragon Slayer 1).
I agree 100% that people should relax and enjoy this journey. Rushing through it only leaves you waiting for the next installment at some point.
I started on 2020 playing this series in order without spoilers and finished on 2023 with Kuro 2. I also played Legend of Heroes 1-5 and Nayuta as well, which in retrospect, I wish I had played before also in order. And right now I'm playing Tokyo Xanadu, which is very close to Trails in which terms and mechanics it uses.
I don't agree with the no moding part. I think the voices do add to the experience. What I don't think should be modded is the evo portraits or the evo music. Those actually do hurt the experience since music changes to tone of the game and the evo portraits for certain intese moments in the games are way worse.
They should port Sky to consoles giving the same treatment they gave zero/azure. Just add the voices and maybe add an extra character here and there that makes sense.
I have not taken the games outside of the Trails canon into consideration because yeah, that's a bit overboard. I've played Legend of Heroes 1 and 2, and they're not bad, but definitely basic and haven't aged as well. Especially that translation lol. Also played Tokyo Xanadu and I thought it was just okay, but I really liked the soundtrack.
I'd still say to play without voices for the first playthrough. Being able to just read the dialogue and imagine the tone and expression in your imagination while the music plays is an interesting experience on its own.
As for the Evo music and portraits, yeah, those are just bad. At least from what I've heard of the music, but the portraits are just awful. I know they're made to be more similar to Zero/Azure, but I'd even say the portraits in Zero/Azure are bad too. The original Sky portraits are much more expressive and fit the games' overall style much better.
And yeah, porting Sky to Switch is a no-brainer. Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations When you mention Legend of Heroes 1 & 2 being translated, I guess you mean Tear of Vermillion and Moonlight witch, which are the Legend of Heroes IV and III respectively (yeah, series numbering is just awful in the localizations....).
I think the PSP version of those games are just bad ports. The only thing I like about them are the portraits. Combat, specially for Tear of Vermillion is really bad compared to how the original game works on PC.
If you have played those, you should play Legend of Heroes V (or III in PSP). It's the conclusión of the story and is quite good. The first few chapters are not good though, but after a certain point, the game gets way better and you star seeing all the links to the other 2 games. Gagharv trilogy is very underrated.
The original Legend of Heroes 1 (Dragon Slayer Legend of Heroes) was translated as well, very bad translation too, however Legendof Heroes II wasn't.
@@Natreg44 Yeah my bad, I meant the PSP ones. I forget they changed the numbers for the western versions. I have only played a little bit of the third one (V) but maybe I'll go back to it some day.
I feel bad because I had Sky FC/SC in my steam library and still chose to play Cold Steel first. In my defense, it was during the pandemic, CS1 was on sale on the PS store at an insane discount, my PS4 was much more accessible due to my living circumstances, and I just wanted a taste test for the series. Suddenly I've finished CS1, I'm hooked, and wanted to go back and play the earlier games.
This wasn't that long after the "CS3 is a fine entry point" stuff and I still think it's a terrible take. I get where NISA is coming from, but I don't like it. They're a business, they don't really care about the old fans because they know old fans are going to buy it either way. They have to attract new customers, so they have to BS about it. I expect we'll see it all over again as Daybreak's marketing kicks up.
For what it's worth, going into CS1 with knowledge about what the older games were about, I always understood when something was a reference. It made going back and seeing the context for them in Sky/Crossbell fun. I clocked out when CS2 had a long, protracted scene discussing Crossbell stuff that went way over my head at the end of the prologue. I can't even imagine being a western Kiseki fan when CS2 first released and playing through the Divertissement.
>"I can't even imagine being a western Kiseki fan when CS2 first released and playing through the Divertissement."
Well, I can tell you exactly what that was like lmao. I had only played Sky 1 before CS1 and 2 because those were the only games available (that I knew of, I wasn't aware of the English patches). I knew who Lloyd was and knew a little bit about Crossbell because I had looked up some info on the series beforehand, but I didn't know who Rixia was. Knowing at least a little bit about it beforehand, I could imagine "Wow, this must be a really cool moment for the JP fans," and then I assumed that was all we were gonna get in the west. But I didn't get some of the references that Lloyd and Rixia were talking about, of course.
Anyway, there's no reason to feel bad about that, as long as you're enjoying yourself now. But it's definitely good that you went back to enjoy the older games. I still think they are the strongest entries in the series to this day.
I've heard this debate and I'm with you on this. At this point, now that all the games have been translated, there's no reason not to start at the beginning. You just won't have the same experience it you don't play through. Big moments, characters appearing, references to prior events, plot points started a long time before being finally resolved, just won't hit the same way if you have no previous connection with it.
Yeah that was kind of my main motivation for making this video. I would have loved Zero/Azure a lot more if I played them before Cold Steel. Thanks for the comment 👍
i played trails games in order and i would never recommend starting anywhere else then sky fc. also reverie does use the crossbell and cold steel arcs save data
I didn't know it used Zero/Azure save data, that's interesting. 🤔
it's like reading lord of the rings, but only books 2 and 3, and expeting it to be as good as if you started with fellowship.
Maybe? Or maybe that would be similar to playing Sky SC and 3rd without FC. Or maybe jumping into a later arc is more like reading LotR without reading the Hobbit first. Not much of a Tolkien fan so idk how accurately the analogy translates here.
Recently started the series. Started with FC and it’s totally a slow burn but by the end…yeah…I get it.
I played on my steam deck and only had a minor hiccup with an intro anime sequence. Also, Joshua’s s-break would not do any damage when in FF mode. Other than that, no biggie.
I’m about 20 hours into SC and loving it, but it does get a bit boring with the tedious side quests (which I’m about to start skipping) bc I want to know what happens in the main story
Steam Deck issues are weird. But yeah, Sky SC drags a lot, but it's totally worth it.
I was initially gonna start with Zero because I prefer to play on Switch, but I decided to actually play Sky FC. Man it is so slow. I feel any momentum the story had got killed when they revealed that Cassius wasn't on the Linde. Right now I've started Chapter 3. Does it get better soon?
Sky FC is a slow burn of a game for sure, but if you're at chapter 3, you're already past the worst parts of the game, and about halfway through, so I would recommend seeing it through to the end. You will know if you want to continue the series after that. Also, don't hesitate to use that turbo mode 😉
@@LowestExpectations I think the part I like the least about the game is Estelle and Joshua being together. I wouldn't mind it except for the fact Joshua called Cassius dad. Like what the hell
@@theozziepotato Well I can't really help with that, other than to suggest to see their story through and then see if you still feel the same way afterwards.
Some people say they can't go to sky because they don't have a PC.
And I know not having those games on consoles is sad, let's be real. HOW Can there be people without a simple potato PC to play these games?
REally now? I understand people saying they can't buy a PS5, its expensive as hell where I live, but a simple PC? Come on now. XD
And I agree with you. Reddit is a fucking mess every time I try to use arguments explaining HOW MUCH you lose by not starting on sky people want to bash me, my post goes downhill and so on.
Again: When I played this, I could have started with Sky, but I started on Cold Steel on my PS Vita After finishing CS2, I went to CS3 and only after that I went back to Sky 1, and I regret every single second I spent on the next games without Sky.
Not only that. Every single second on Cold Steel I and II without knowledge of Zero and Azure too. You miss so much context, so many feelings, and all that.
The three sky games are super cheap and insanely low demanding, you can run them on your old laptop from 2010. So stop complaining, go play them. IF you don't want a silent game, put the voice mods from the Evolution games. Be happy. Hell put the OST from Evo too if you want (For sky games I think the Evo music is mostly better, with some exceptions).
People say I should recommend any starting arc because we need more sales, but let's be real here: Most people will start on fucking Kuro no Kiseki next year just to not understand what half of the people Van knows or talk about is and they will be like Agnès most of the time, with a lot of question marks on their heads. Then people will be all "omg bad game expecting me to have played older games, I cant picture the whole thing, lots of plot holes because of it" then they never play the series either way and won't be part of the new sales demographics these fans want to much to sell well, because this is a story driven narrative and anything you do NOT know about, you're losing a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. Just go and play it. By playing two hours a weekend, you will be able to finish the entire series in a fucking year. That's not a Long investment by any means. A long time investment would be if you had to play these games five hours a day. So stop it. Go play sky. Thank you.
Honestly, I think there are a sizeable number of people out there who have an aversion to playing on PC for whatever reason, and I just don't get it. Like maybe they are just trying to make excuses for not playing on PC or whatever. I don't know. Console fanboyism is somehow still a thing in the current day after all.
I also don't get why people care about the games' sales. Like that's not my problem. It's not like I'm making this video as a free advertisement for Falcom and NISA. I kinda hate the latter especially anyway.
It'll be weird to see new people getting into the series with Daybreak, if that even happens in a noticeable number. Like I was really surprised at the complete new direction the game went, especially in regards to how serious and "adult" the tone is, and I can't imagine what it would be like going back and playing the juvenile high school harem crap that is Cold Steel. People are not going to be able to take the older games seriously. Maybe. Guess we'll find out.
Thanks for the comment 👍
I wish I had only finished Zero and Azure, and maybe the first Kuro. Everything else was utter trash in my opinion(even though I skipped the sky trilogy). I saw someone say, 'The Sky Trilogy is the graveyard for an upcoming trails player,' and I couldn't agree more.
Well I definitely don't agree with that, because it was the Sky trilogy that got me hooked on the series in the first place. But hey, different strokes and all that.
I would personally say sky if you can help it but if you can't then probably zero and auzre and good video btw
One point wrong sky FC is available on PSP officially in english on the PSN store it's a digital only release
Really? I didn't even know that still worked. Although, I wouldn't personally recommend buying digital games on an aging system like that anyway. Can you buy PSP games digitally on Vita as well?
I'm in the school of gamers who saw spoilers by playing the Cold Steel games first, so my mindset shifted towards picking up on context clues to see when an event is going to happen or why.
I feel like each new installments has a plot device that parallels whatever technology is discovered in our society, giving it the sense that technology develops way more rapidly in Zemuria.
My best example of this is how the Olivier used the Sonorous Seashell to basically be a cell phone, but by Cold Steel cell phone-like ARCUS units became standard by Thors students testing it 4 years later, tying back to Olivert's phone call in Sky FC and his Erebonian roots.
Sometimes I think they made technology advance a little _too_ fast. Trails in the Sky seems primitive compared to the Cold Steel series, and they're only a few years apart. Almost like they did it as an excuse to make CS even more like modern high school. 😑Oh well.
Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations I disagree that it's too fast, actually. Calvard already has smartphones by Daybreak 1, which is interesting, but considering that the entire equivalent to the real-world Industrial Revolution occurred in about 50 years in-game, rapid technological advancement is nothing new to the series in terms of lore or otherwise. Erebonia and Calvard are also technological juggernauts canonically. In short, I'd much rather the rapid technological advancement continue in accordance with series lore than it grind to a halt, or worse: unnecessary time skips in the timeline.
@@BlueGrovyle Yes, I too adore the modern-day-esque elements of Calvard
@@LowestExpectationsI think it's more so that the different countries advance in specific aspects more than the other countries.
Like Erebonia might have cellphones and shit but all of Liberl , even the boonies uses orbment appliances and stuff which a lot of Erebonia uses normal gas stoves and coals and stuff.
Which in a Continent in the brink of a warring times. It make sense there will be some kind of exclusivity when it comes to technological development
I've never understood people who claimed graphical fidelity as a argument for starting with CS. Cold Steel doesn't look good till about 3 with the frankly ugly 3d models of CS1 and 2 I found the Sprites of Sky and Crossbell to be a lot more appealing to me at least.
I think some people getting interested in the series now grew up without the old school 2D-only era that people like me were already used to. But it really is just another "muh gwafix" argument. If people can't get over that, they'll never enjoy anything in the series because the graphics were never the selling point. I'd argue that even the late CS games don't look that great either, and hot take, I think the environment design in Sky has aged well enough to look better than everything that came out after it, with Kuro being the first exception. Calvard looks awesome, especially the cities.
Thanks for the comment 👍
As someone who came in fresh and started with Sky over the summer I have not regretted my decision
Hell yeah, you're always having a fun time whenever I pop in on your streams
@@LowestExpectations yeah I enjoy the game alot
I'd personally recommend a newbie play Sky first, DO NOT listen to NISA or Reddit when forming your opinion. The graphics are charming; they really grow on you to the point where I really missed it with PS2 3D graphics CS 1&2 and hyper-anime trash CS 3&4. Plus you're in for an ascending peak of quality through Sky FC to Azure and then you get the most out of Cold Steel by turning mid into mid, but with protagonist teamups and arc intersections which is cool! Personally, I'd also recommend JP voice-acting mods as the VA is fantastic and made it more immersive to me.
Also the Sky & Crossbell (and I suppose Cold Steel 1&2) translations are leagues above the newer games thanks to xSeed & Geofront's herculean efforts. The scripts are tighter and full of life and nuance. I'm still salty that NISA butchered Randy's hilarious bruh moment.
Yeah NISA are not to be trusted. They've shown to have little respect for the overall story of this series in multiple ways.
And Reddit is full of terrible opinions. I've seen what r/falcom is like and it's a dumpster, even worse than /fg on 4chan.
I agree Cold Steel made me miss the old sprite graphics too, but I did like seeing them be able to put a more detail into the world than before. Kuro in particular has some amazing locations that really made me just want to explore and look around.
Voice acting would make it less immersive to me. I can't understand Japanese, so I like being able to imagine the tone and expression of each scene in my imagination instead, and I think at least for the first playthrough, people should do that.
I haven't played the NISA versions of Zero/Azure, but I've heard it was a bit of a downgrade. CS3 and CS4 weren't terrible at least (except some of the voices), but I imagine if the original XSeed team did it, it would have been at least a bit better. Sadly, XSeed is just another garbage localizer like the rest of them now.
Thanks for the comment 👍
Slight spoiler warning:
(I reference an event and a couple of character names)
The one variation in the play order that I think is okay is (after playing the sky trilogy) playing Zero, then Cold Steel 1, then Azure, then Cold Steel 2. While the trade conference is a promintent event in both Azure and CS 1, Cold Steel 1 doesn't really reveal anything else about Azure. I also think playing CS 1 first will make you think "man what the fuck is happening in Crossbell" and then when you play Azure you get to experience it from their side. (Plus the official port of Azure retcons Towa and Gideon being present during those events which you wouldn't really notice unless you played CS 1 before Azure).
I think it works well in CS1 having callbacks to the trade conference if you played Azure first too. I probably like it more that way, but if people want to do that alternate order, it's pretty harmless. Thanks for the comment 👍
big like and subscribe
About the difficulty, from zero onward the games become easier and easier yes, but kuro 2 is a bit more difficult and made me think how to survive so the games will maybe become stupidlty easy in the next games. Also you can totally start in nightmare in zero, at first you're going to need to think a bit with how little tools you have but the game isn't that hard
Funny you say that, I just beat Kuro 2 yesterday (aside from the optional Garten floors) and thought it was still pretty easy. I hadn't played through any game on nightmare on my first playthrough until this point, with Kuro 2 being my first one, and I got through it without any major issues. I died once because an enemy got lucky with some deathblow attacks, and the fights with those "no ally KOs" SP requirements were annoying, but that was it. Maybe I have something nasty waiting for me in floor 10, but we'll see.
Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations Oh, so I just don't know how to play x) I've just finish act 2 side B and thought the game was harder than kuro 1, that I thought was harder than cold steel. Or just maybe Swin is too bad to be able to tank and that's why I'm having a hard time keeping the others alive
@@siphons5737 It's not that you don't know how to play, it's just that the game threw a curveball at us after developing habits using Van throughout the entirety of Kuro 1 lol. I remember having some very close calls with Swin's side too, which made me think those were the most difficult parts of the game.
Swin's made for taking enemies out quickly, not tanking. Technically you could use him as an evasion tank, but those segments where he leads the party are early, when evasion % is still very low (you still want him to have high HP because he will be taking most of the hits regardless). The key to using him is to apply "mark" to every enemy, then use his S-craft before you get swarmed. I think most bosses consist of multiple smaller enemies so this works very well for him, especially if you give him status effect and debuff offensive shard skills on his orbment, and if you can stun an enemy, his default hollow core makes him do a lot more damage. Nadia supports him very well with her healing craft, but she can also deal a surprising amount of damage to multiple enemies with her Wonderful Stitch craft, which is a good debuff tool.
If you just beat Act 2 side B, that group of crimson Grendel fiends before Garden Master showed up was the fight I died on because they used deathblow on my whole party. What can you do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@LowestExpectations Yeah that's what I do too with Swin, I try to get enough cp to mark everyone and then s-craft, but I can't kill with him most of the time and that's why I'm just trying for him to tank. I tried that against the first fight of demi-grendel and died because I didn't had anything to inflict corrosing (and honestly, the demi-grendel are the worst ennemy to deal with, they heal way too much, they give me flashback from trails in the sky with the ennemy that heals them by hitting you)
@@siphons5737 Yeah that first fight is a pain. There's more enemies that heal themselves in this game, even some major bosses, and it can get annoying if you forget to bring someone who can remove buffs.
First of all nice video.
Well, I got spoiled on internet, I already know that some "elements"(if you get what Im saying) from an arc will appear in later arcs, will it ruin my overall experience as a whole?
I was not away from Trails content online 😅
I don't think I can answer that unless I know what those elements are. If it's just a few plot points, I'd say you're fine because there's probably a lot more interesting things you haven't been spoiled on yet. In general, you can still enjoy the series if you've been spoiled, even majorly so.
There's plenty of Trails fans out there who spoil the crap out of everything for themselves before the games even come out in English, who still love the series. I find that very strange, but eh. I guess the best way for you to find out is to just try it.
Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations
POSSIBLE SPOILERS if you don't know anything about the series
What I meant was characters, I know the protagonists from each arc show up in next arcs, I didn't wanted to say it at first because this could be considered spoil for some people idk hehe
Other than that I don't know anything about the overall plot of the games.
Thanks for replying
I have become a Kiseki tuber as you can CLEARY see by my screen name.😂😂😂
Based Olivert pfp to go with it. Enjoy Sky the 3rd 👍
im a borderline kisekituber
oh no
"Oh no"
-Knuckles
Not adding jp dub to sky is an L take, otherwise nice video.
Lol thanks
The japanese dub is a must for the best experience. Although it does mean that you get the best dub first. Other games don't have nearly as much voiced dialogues
As a console-only gamer, my order through the series was:
Cold Steel 1-4
Sky 1-3
Zero/Azure
Reverie
Whilst starting at Sky 1 is the obvious and ideal starting point, if we were to stick to that, it would become impossible to recommend to my similarly console-only friends, because they simply would not be able to play the game you "need" to start with. Did Cold Steel 1-4 spoil some things? Well yeah, obviously, but playing through Sky and the Crossbell games after was still incredibly compelling, and I would rather people experience the series in the only way they can (starting with Zero or Cold Steel 1 or Daybreak) on console rather than just bypass it completely.
It's not just a matter of "well, even this shitty 2012 laptop you can buy for cheap will run it" either, that's a mindset that may seem reasonable to a PC-centric gamer, but as a console one, it's just not that easy. I ran into multiple roadblocks with Sky that I had to speak to a PC-centric friend to resolve, mainly that fullscreen mode seemed to bug it out and I couldn't get past the main menus, or one unique crash in SC that required lowering my resolution to resolve, or issues with getting controller support set up. These are all sorts of issues that console gamers don't really need to ever concern themselves with, because the games are all designed for a specific piece of hardware.
I can only hope that when XSEED's license (supposedly) expires in 2025, it can open the doors for NISA to swoop in and bring it over to console (alongside CS1/2 for Switch). Then there really wouldn't be much excuse for not starting with Sky.
Wow I’m a little surprised to find somebody else who played in the same order as me. Granted my excuse was simply finding Cold Steel more interesting from an outside perspective, but that was the order I went in. And let me tell you, I found 3 of the 5 older games better than the ones in the CS quadrillogy, but I don’t resent my option to start where I did. If anything it was a grace, because Sky FC is my least favorite game in the series so it would probably have turned me off entirely.
As a certified PC master racer, it always surprises me when people say they have all these problems, especially for games like Trails in the Sky, which I've had only one technical problem with, that being a singular crash in Sky SC at the end of the game, right after I beat the final boss. THAT was annoying lmao. But other than that, they've worked perfectly for me.
One thing I will say is that it's kind of baffling that the Trails in the Sky games haven't been ported yet because putting them on Switch is a no-brainer. If they made a physical version of the trilogy, or even physical versions of each game, even I'd be very tempted to buy them despite having already played through them multiple times.
Thanks for the comment 👍
The only thing is, even if NISA acquires a license to sell Sky in the West, they couldn’t just use XSeed’s translation - they would either need to cut a deal to reuse XSeed’s translation which XSeed has no obligation to facilitate, or do their own localisation - which might be perceived as too much work to re-release a trilogy of old games that may only have a niche appeal.
I played Sky SC on hard on my first playthrough. I just beat it today. I don't recommend it.
Large oof. That game is brutal on anything above normal lol
trails through daybreak is a terrible starting place. people either didn't play the game and are just parroting the "soft reboot" angle that's being pushed by other CZcamsrs. I firmly believe if you start with the first game of each arc you'll be fine, but the further you go in the series, the more the stories inevitably become built upon the what came before it. Daybreak was the first time i audibly said to my-self "i cannot imagine anyone starting here and understanding what's going on."
I've seen people asking if Reverie is a starting point.
Yep that's the vibe I get from people who say to start wherever you want. So many things in Kuro/Daybreak that would not make sense to a new player.
@@M00nlightOfficial That's arguably the worst starting point in the series as of now lol.
Agreed, Kuro's entire premise is based off of Sky's plot points. If you can't see the correlation between the 'gospel' and the 'oct-genesis' you are missing out on a lot of lore. Kuro is definitely not a soft reboot, it leans harder on the (unfortunately) darker lore of the series (since apparently most people have not played sky)
trails in the sky is not the shortest game in the series. trails in the sky fc took me 80h to beat while reverie, cs4, cs2, azure, and sky 3rd all took me from 30-50h this is for doing all of the side quests and the main story nothing else
That's kinda wild because Sky FC definitely the shortest game by far in my experience. It took me ~40 hours on the first playthrough I think, and ~50 on my second hard mode playthrough. Every other game was at least 60 hours or more.
@@LowestExpectations i don't know why it took me 70h to beat. maybe i was just bad
@@niles8576 Well hey, at least you beat it, and that's what matters lol
The real disservice is blindly say "always start from Sky". The real answer is: "I'd recommend starting from Sky and play the release order for the optimal experience, however any of the starting points of a new arc can be a starting point if you don't mind trade-offs".
1. Sky is the recommended and optimal order (The trade off is an older game with probably the most barebones gameplay)
2. Crossbell is arguably the best arc (The trade off is losing on some impactful plot point, it "spoils" some bits of Cold Steel, it improves on Sky gameplay)
3. Cold Steel it's 3D feels more modern (You once again lose previous established lore/plot points, it's a really slow game, "spoils" some bits of Crossbell, some people prefer the gameplay others don't)
I'd argue Cold Steel I-II -> Sky -> Crossbell -> Cold Steel III-IV is the next best thing if you want to get into the Trails without the mind numbing Arts spam that Sky is
It sounds like you are coming at this with the mindset that Sky is not an enjoyable gameplay experience, and I don't agree. They are still enjoyable games, quirks and all, and really only devolve into "arts spam" if you play on hard or nightmare. Also, you'd be giving new players a bunch of info and preconceived notions that they don't need. That's why I say that they can just close the video and go have fun with Sky early on. If they come back saying they didn't like it, then I'd recommend playing Cold Steel 1. All that said, I do agree the order you mention is the second best option.
Thanks for the comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations Sky isn't a bad game at all, but I find it lacking in the amount of ways you can tackle the gameplay.
Some people are more story driven, others are gameplay driven, thats why I think recommending Sky but giving it straight to them that the gameplay gets better gives more people a chance to dip their toes into the series.
@@ampleoq Maybe, but you may also be giving them the impression going into it that they are playing the worst games in the series, even if that's not your intention. I think it's better for people to just try it and make up their own mind. The reason we find them lacking now is mostly because we've experienced how far the games have come along over the years, but for someone who doesn't have that frame of reference, they might go into it with a more positive outlook.
For me specifically, I don't like to read reviews, get people's opinions, or even watch trailers of games I plan on playing. Maybe that makes me weird, but I doubt I'm alone on that.
Yep, this franchise isn't for me.
And that's okay 👍
Sky FC > Sky SC > Sky 3rd > Zero > Azure > Skip the shittiesteel arc > Kuro (the series is cancelled here... “Kuro 2” is a fanfic made by some fans)
Haha...
Ive been parousing your channel all morning and while i will say i find you highly disagreeable you do have a good sense on how to direct your videos with pretty good narration/writing so I still respect your opinions. But the thing I feel the strongest about and its being mentioned on other comments but skipping out on the voice acting on the Sky games is absurd. I am the point now in the series where im genuinely missing the lack of voice acting the newer and newer the games get. This is all somewhat ironic because you would think the more modern the more voice acting but nope. This might be my actual biggest gripe with the modern games above all. I sincerely miss the prevelent voice acting EVO offered, so telling people to skip out it is incredibly dismissive imo.
Yeah I should have made it clear that this is highly subjective in the video, but I get more out of it by reading and having it play out in my imagination than listening to the VA. Which is why I recommend playing it without the VA on the first playthrough, then if you return to replay the games (as many Trails fans do), add the VA if you want.
I do agree with you about the more modern games though. They really need to stop with the _one voiced character in a conversation between 2+ people_ thing. Still prevalent up to Kuro 2 unfortunately.
Thanks for the comment, and thanks for checking out the channel, I appreciate it 👍
For anyone who happens to see this and may be looking for a contrasting opinion, my comment is completely spoiler-free and discusses absolutely zero plot points of the Trails series itself.
I humbly and wholeheartedly disagree that recommending starting with Zero or Cold Steel is a "disservice" to anyone, as long as it's framed as a recommendation and not gospel. The same goes for Sky: *being dogmatic and pretending that starting with Sky is the objective "correct" answer to this question will **_never_** increase the potential Trails player base, only decrease it.* I can't say for sure whether telling someone that Trails is a series of 12-and-counting interconnected games occurring on the same timeline, and that it does not _have_ to be started at the very beginning, would drive people away from it, but I _can_ say for sure that saying the opposite would, because it would have driven me away. Not every video game player will be captivated by the same things-the combat, music, voice acting, and slice-of-life pace completely sold me on Cold Steel but not Sky, for example-and people who haven't played any games of the series could easily think that this age-old take means that playing the series out of order is somehow worse than not playing the series at all, because it is more than obvious that a lot of people pass on this series due to the simply unreasonable time commitment that playing in order asks of them if the game that appeals to them most is not Sky, which is the case for a lot of onlookers, myself included. Imagine telling someone that Star Wars IV is inherently a sub-optimal entry point just because the narrative doesn't chronologically begin there while overlooking everything else that makes a movie a movie: pacing, cinematography, camerawork, acting, music . . . Yikes.
No one recommended this series to me; I found Cold Steel myself via Steam sale. I played it and loved it, but what if I started with Sky, wasn't captivated by it, and never ended up playing Cold Steel because someone like this video told me not to unless I'd finished the 5 preceding games first, which could take upwards of 200 to 230 hours at my pace? I would have missed out on some of my favorite gaming moments in my life up to this point, a myriad of inside jokes that I share with friends, several chance encounters with streamers on Twitch that I still talk to and support today, and a newfound motivation to get back into creating piano arrangements for video game soundtracks. I personally played and finished Sky FC because I was already invested in Trails as a series thanks to Cold Steel, not because I was at the edge of my seat by the end or because I particularly enjoyed the game as a standalone title, which, by the way, is pretty necessary in order for someone to be convinced not to drop the series.
It is _perfectly fine_ to believe that starting with Sky is the best choice, but I believe the _true_ disservice is passing it (or any opinion) off as the _objective_ answer, because doing so fails to acknowledge that elements of a game like QoL and hour-by-hour gameplay matter with regard to someone's first impressions of a game and especially a long-running series, which completely baffles me. Not everyone looks for the same thing in an RPG; I was looking for combat, and in Cold Steel, I found that-in spades, no less. However, I have no choice but to believe that people who regurgitate what I'll call the "Sky or bust" answer without a second thought don't realize that holding that opinion above all others no matter what is more or less equivalent to the claim that getting into Trails because the gameplay is good and not out of an interest in the narrative, or that intending to play only one game of the series and wanting the best overall single-game experience, is an "invalid" or "insufficient" justification for playing a video game, which is completely ridiculous. It's one thing to believe that the narrative is more important than those things, but another thing entirely to discount those things as being "unimportant" or unimportant enough that optimizing one's experience of a video game for something other than narrative is not worth thorough consideration. If Falcom had the time and resources to remake Trails in the Sky, perhaps I'd feel _somewhat_ differently, but it is simply a fact of the matter that not every JRPG fan wants to play a JRPG without fast travel, for example, and that's completely fine. Not everyone likes PC gaming either, and your choices for playing Sky are _very_ scarce and niche otherwise. Something as simple as that does not make anyone less of a human, less of a gamer, or less "deserving" of being a fan of the series. I urge all of you to be open-minded and remember that people can enjoy this series for completely different reasons. First impressions matter, and for people who prefer Crossbell or Cold Steel over Sky like I do, their experience as a Trails fan is not any less valuable than those of the most hard-core fans.
In my opinion, the best, most considerate and least condescending advice you can give a Trails novice is this: if the idea of the long overarching fictional narrative is enough to sell someone on the series and they're interested in Sky, great, recommend Sky. If not, which is the case for _plenty_ of people, recommend starting with the first game of whatever is the most appealing-looking arc to them. If they like it and are gripped by the story, _then_ they can decide whether going back to the start and playing in order from then on is right for them. "Sky or bust" is not a welcoming pitch. We can do better if we as a fanbase _really_ want as many people as possible to experience what the series has to offer, and I don't see how anyone who suggests that conditionally recommending the series out of order is a "disservice" could truly want that.
Wow, that's the longest comment I've ever gotten 😲
I don't want to get into a time-consuming back and forth, so we can agree to disagree on most of this, but I want to say I'm not part of some Trails fanbase collective, and don't really have any interest in being a part of one.
If someone came to me being interested in the series because they found out about Cold Steel for example, of course I'd still recommend them to at least _try_ Trails in the Sky first. If they then said "Hey, I tried Trails in the Sky and couldn't like it," then I'd recommend them to try Cold Steel. I'm not some dogmatic asshole that will try to push someone away from the series entirely if they don't play them in my "objectively correct" way. I think I made that somewhat clear in the video, but maybe I could have spent more time on it.
Regardless, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to watch my video and writing such a long comment 👍
@@LowestExpectations my goal was not to attack you, but to provide resistance to what I believe is one of the more echo chamber-prone discussions in the community. I will admit that I found describing alternative recommendations as a disservice to be close-minded, but it seems that plenty of fans either would agree with the sentiment at face value or would say something equivalent in meaning. I understand that the series truly is one of one in the world of gaming and that some people want any and every JRPG enthusiast to experience it in its purest form, but as another person on CZcams once said, the series's biggest draw is also its biggest drawback.
I also thoroughly enjoy your videos, by the way. I'm not here to troll or insult you.
@@BlueGrovyle No problem, I didn't think you were trying to. I just think you got the wrong idea about me or my position, which could just be partially my own fault as well, for not making certain parts clear in the video.
The main reason I think it's a disservice is purely based on my own experience with the series and nothing more - I wish I had played them all in order, and I think I would have loved certain games (Zero and Azure mainly) more than I do now if I had. I worry that other people recommending later games will lead to the same result. It also might not, you never know. But to be on the safe side, I will still always recommend people to _at least_ try Trails in the Sky first before jumping in anywhere else.
I have zero interactions with the wider fanbase so I don't know what they say about this topic, only watched a small handful of CZcamsrs (maybe I shouldn't have directed the disservice line at the "Trails community" in hindsight), but I see what you mean about it being echo chamber-prone. I know a lot of people start with Trails of Cold Steel and are just as much enjoyers of the series as you and I, and that's totally fine.